Railway car center plate and auxiliary resilient bearings



United States Patent [72] Inventor Ray C. Williams Chicago, Illinois [211 App]. No. 745,939 {22] Filed July 18, 1968 [45] Patented Oct. 13, 1970 [73] Assignee Standard Car Truck Company Chicago, Illinois a corporation of New Jersey [54] RAILWAY CAR CENTER PLATE AND AUXILIARY RESILIENT BEARINGS 6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

' [52] U.S.Cl 105/199.

105/200, 105/226, 267/3, 308/137, 308/138 [51] Int. Cl .1 B6lf5/08, B61f5/14.B61f5/16 [50] Field ofSearch 105/199, 200,226. 267/3;308/137, 138

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1.993,104 3/1935 Lamont 105/200 2,259,049 10/1941 Swan, et a1 308/138 2,301,372 11/1942 Cottrell 308/138 2,350,301 5/1944 COttrclL. 308/138 3,045,998 7/1962 Hirst 267/3 3.405,653 10/1968 Cunningham 308/137 3,406,641 10/ 1 968 Williams 105/ l 99 3,400,669 9/1968 Williams 105/199 Primary Examiner-Arthur L. La Point Assistant Exw'ninerHoward Beltran Atl0rney-- Parker, Carter and Markey Patented Oct. 13, 1970 $533,359

z/v rz /vme. fi /Q d Z4740 Patented Oct. 13, 1970 Sheet ""llllll.

RAILWAY CAR CENTER PLATE AND AUXILIARY RESILIENT BEARINGS SUMMARY or THE INVENTION This is a detailed improvement on the center plate extension disclosed in pending patent application No. 531,683, filed Mar. 4, 1966 in the name of Ray C. Williams as Railway Car Center Plate and Auxiliary Bearings now US. Pat. No. 3,406,641 and the'purpose of this information is to provide an effective and accurately adjusted extension pad which may be installed with a minimum of expense and effort and in which proper shimming, both for installation and subsequent adjustment, is easily accomplished without the use of bolts, nuts or loose parts as are characteristic of the original design.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring to the drawings;

FIG. 1 is a vertical section through those parts of the car and truck assembly necessary to illustrate this invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of that part of the truck bolster illustrated in FIG. I with the car bolster removed.

FIG. 3 is a detailed side elevation of the retainer.

FIG. 4 is a front elevation of the cushion itself.

Like parts are indicated by like numerals throughout the specification and drawing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION The railroad car bolster 2 carries the male center plate 3 which penetrates the female center plate 4 on the truck bolster 5 to provide annular plane bearing surfaces between the car and the truck bolsters. Welded or cast on the underside of the car bolster 2 are body bolster spacers 6 which project downwardly toward the truck bolster on each side of the center plate.

Welded or cast on and projecting upwardly from the upper side of the truck bolster in register with these spacers are pad retainers 7, walled to define a pad pocket. The plane floor 8 of the pocket slopes downwardly and outwardly in a direction away from the center plate though, under other circumstances, the floor might be horizontal. Adjusting shim 9 rests upon the floor 8 of the pocket.

The compressible pad or center plate extension is loosely socketed in the pocket in each retainer and includes a rigid, preferably steel, plate 10 which rests upon the shim 9 and a rigid, preferably steel, wear plate 11 which contacts the generally horizontal wear face 60 of the spacer 6. Sandwiched between the plates 10 and 11 is a high compression elastomeric cushion 13 which increases in thickness outwardly in a direction away from the center plate. The plates 10 and 11 extend about their periphery outwardly beyond the outer periphery of the elastomeric cushion.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the opposite side walls 14 of the retainerare notched at 15. After assembly of the parts with the elastomeric pad in position, loosely socketed in the pocket in the retainer, a short rod 16 will be welded to the wall 14 at the pocket 15 and will extend inwardly over the plate 10 to prevent escape of the cushion from the pocket. When replacement or readjustment is necessary, it is quite easy to knock the weldment loose, throw the pin away, jack up the car and add or remove shimming. Then, another rod may be welded in place to prevent escape of the cushion as before.

The side walls 14 extend rearwardly as indicated at 17 on both sides of the conventional side bearing plate 18. The apex of the side bearing plate 19 extends forwardly toward, but terminates out of contact with, the pad or center plate extension. As shown in full lines, the walls 17 slope downward to meet the normal surface of the truck bolster in the vicinity of the side bearing plate 18 so that, if the brake rod of the truck rests on the plate 18, it can ride up along the inclined surface I7 as the truck bolster rotates about the vertical axis of the center late.

Extending inwardly from the walls I4 are short walls 20. It is not necessary for them to extend clear across the retainer because of the rigidity of the plate 10. Wall 21 extends clear across the retainer to reinforce the retainer structure.

I claim:

1. In combination, a railroad car bolster, a truck bolster, a center plate between them, a compressible center plate extension pad assembly between them near the center plate, the assembly including a car bolster wear plate surface permanently carried by the underside of the car bolster, a pad retainer permanently mounted on the upper side of the truck bolster, in vertical alignment with said surface, the pad retainer including upwardly projecting walls, defining a pad pocket, an elastomeric sandwich pad loosely retained in the pocket, in frictional contact with said wear surface and removable pad holding means carried by the retainer to prevent escape of the pad from the retainer.

2. The device of claim 1 characterized by the fact that the pad includes a bottom plate extending beyond the body of the pad and said pad holding means overlies said bottom plate.

3. The device of claim 2 characterized by the fact that one of the walls of the retainer is notched and that the pad holding means includes a stop pin member welded in said notch and overlying said bottom plate. 7

4. The device of claim 3 characterized by the fact that the notch extends substantially from the floor of the pocket to the upper edge of the pocket wall so that the stop pin member may be positioned a sufficient distance above the bottom of the notch to overhang the plate when its position is changed by the insertion of a shim on the floor of the pocket.

5. The device of claim 1 characterized by the fact that the elastomeric pad includes spaced rigid plates with elastomeric material between them, the upper of the two plates providing a wear surface in contact with said car bolster wear surface.

6. The device of claim I characterized by the fact that the elastomeric pad increases in thickness in the direction away from the center plate and that the floor of the pocket is downwardly and outwardly inclined away from the center plate to compensate for the outwardly increasing thickness of the pad. 

